Chapter 39: Where are your clothes?
"Your name?"
"...The Evil King's True Eye Envoy."
"You just said your surname is Takanashi."
The girl with the ahoge hair took a small step back, pressing down on her eye mask with her right hand. "My true name holds great power. I can't reveal it so easily."
"..."
Amamiya fell silent for a couple of seconds, suddenly feeling like the girl in front of him might not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
"Are you the only one in your ward?"
"There's one more," she replied.
Amemiya raised an eyebrow. "Another player?"
"No." The ahoge girl shook her head nervously, casting a glance at the door behind her. "It's a terrifying vengeful spirit. It talks. It said it's hungry and told me to go find food. If I don't bring any back, it'll get angry, and... when it's angry, bad things happen."
As this conversation unfolded, unlucky players began emerging from their respective wards, though Amemiya still hadn't spotted Chika or Kaguya among them.
After a brief exchange among the group, Amamiya pieced together the rules of the game:
Each player begins in an "initial ward" and is paired with a "fellow patient."
These patients aren't human; they're malevolent spirits or something equally unsettling. Though they won't attack players directly, they harbor a deep malice, finding various ways to deepen the players' fear.
The light in the corridors only lasts ten minutes.
The dark corridors are especially dangerous.
Players must remain in their ward most of the time to avoid harm. To survive, they need to build good relationships with their fellow patients by satisfying their eerie demands.
For example, the girl in front of him had been tasked by her ward's vengeful spirit to search for food. Returning empty-handed would likely spell disaster.
In short, the current threat came entirely from the fellow patients.
Amemiya's thoughts drifted to Miss Sadako, his own ward's companion.
Miss Sadako, burdened by her social anxiety, had retreated to the well on the TV screen and showed no signs of coming out, no matter how much he called. Did that mean his ward had become a safe room, a place where he could stay indefinitely?
Of course, lying low forever wasn't an option—he still hadn't found Kaguya or Chika.
Since they hadn't appeared in the corridor, it was clear they were still trapped inside a ward somewhere, unable to leave for some reason.
Amemiya surveyed the hallway, which was lined with rows of wards on both sides.
"Should I check room by room?"
"No, it's too risky." He quickly dismissed the idea.
He wasn't invincible like One Punch Man; he could only rely on the prompts.
"In that case, the priority is finding out which ward Chika and Kaguya are in..."
After organizing his thoughts, Amemiya began walking down the corridor, deep in contemplation.
The ahoge girl followed closely behind.
"Why are you following me?" Amemiya suddenly stopped, turning to face her.
Rikka Takanashi looked up, her eyes wide. "Destiny is guiding me..."
Amemiya frowned. "Cut to the chase."
"Oh..." Rikka's ahoge drooped in defeat. "I don't know where to find food."
"You're already a player, not to mention the Evil King's True Eye Envoy. That sounds pretty powerful—solve your problems on your own."
"Well, my Evil King's True Eye is temporarily out of commission from overuse..." Rikka's expression grew pitiful, like a small animal about to be abandoned by its owner. "But you seem like a reliable person, senpai."
"Bad people don't exactly advertise their badness."
"Sister Yukinoshita said the same thing when I met her."
"Hm?"
"..."
After some questioning, Amemiya discovered that the Chunibyo in front of him had only recently completed her first game, making her a novice player.
The reason she had survived wasn't due to her own wits or skill, but because she had encountered a veteran player in her previous game—a girl with long, straight black hair surnamed Yukinoshita.
Now, with other players panicking and pale-faced, Amemiya's calm demeanor reminded Rikka of Yukinoshita. Naturally, she decided to stick by him!
As they continued walking, a nurses' station came into view.
Beneath the dim, cold light stood a young woman in a white nurse's uniform. Her figure might have been attractive, but the uniform was marred with dark brown bloodstains, and her face was completely wrapped in blood-soaked gauze, instantly killing any appeal she might have had.
Not to mention, she held a thick syringe in her hand that looked like it would cause even a pig to scream in pain. No player dared to approach her.
Earlier, a brave player who called himself the "Tyrant of the Nangong Family" had tried. The result? A shot straight away, and he was still lying on the floor.
Amemiya stared at the nurse for a few seconds, and a prompt appeared before his eyes:
---
[You have encountered the Swollen-Faced Nurse.]
[You've seen through her weakness...]
[As the lowest-ranking employee in the hospital, she does the hardest work, earns the lowest salary, and endures endless night shifts. Every day, the nurse contemplates suicide.]
[This nurse despises working the night shift and doesn't want to interact with patients during these hours. As long as the patients stay quiet and don't make noise, she'll choose to ignore them.]
---
After reading the prompt, Amemiya made his way toward the nurses' station.
"Senpai..."
Rikka's voice was shaky as she hurriedly grabbed the corner of his clothes.
"Stay quiet," Amemiya raised a finger, signaling for silence. "Wait here and don't make a sound."
The Chunibyo girl nodded fervently, covering her mouth with both hands.
With measured steps, Amemiya headed toward the nurses' station, determined and calm.
A few players nearby watched in shock as he approached.
"What is that guy doing?"
"He knows he's going to get an injection, but he still dared to go there? He's done for, right?"
"Maybe he got some kind of mission and had no choice... Wait, why is he okay?"
Under the stunned gazes of two unlucky players, Amamiya casually strolled up to the nurse's station and began rummaging around in front of the swollen-faced nurse.
"Found it."
Amemiya quickly located a worksheet that listed the patient admission information for each ward.
---
'Ward 404: Amamiya'
'Ward 405: Chika'
'Ward 406: Kaguya... Wait, she's right next door?'
---
After confirming the locations of the two girls, Amemiya turned and left the desk. The nurse didn't react at all, acting as if she hadn't seen him.
"How is that guy not in trouble?"
"Is he invisible?"
"No way. The nurse definitely looked right at him just now."
---
"Glad you're okay." Rikka let out a sigh of relief and quickly followed behind Amemiya. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she asked, "How come you were fine back there?"
"Don't ask me," Amemiya replied flatly. "Why don't you use your invincible Evil King's True Eye to figure it out?"
"The Evil King's True Eye is still sealed," Rikka said with a pout. "I can't see the truth."
"..."
---
As they made their way back down the corridor, the ten-minute time limit was running out. The lights began to dim rapidly, signaling the approach of darkness.
Amemiya stopped at the door of Ward 405, raising his right hand to knock.
Knocking before entering is just common courtesy, after all.
After waiting a few seconds, he gripped the door handle, turned it gently, and pushed the door open. His eyes quickly landed on Chika, who was standing there in nothing but her underwear.
"Uh, excuse me. Goodbye."